Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 08:25:35 -0800
From: Michael Andre-Driussi
Subject: Re: (urth) Lowering the tone
Nigel wrote:
>Is it simply too gross to point to the phallic associations of the name, or
>at least its diminutive?
No, not at all. Thanks for raising the point -- bringing it up -- drawing
it to our attention.
For all I know "Attis" might have a similar etymology (aside from association).
Speaking of Attis, the FUNK & WAGNALLS STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FOLKLORE,
MYTHOLOGY, AND LEGEND has some nice notes: mention of the pine connection,
which we've noted before; a calendar of events, which goes like this
===
March 22 -- pine tree is cut and brought into the sanctuary of Cybele where
it is "swathed with woolen bands, decked with violets" and has an effigy of
a young man tied to it.
March 23 -- no comments given.
March 24 -- Day of Blood, with bloodletting and probably the
self-emasculation rites.
March 25 -- the resurrection celebration in a "licentious carnival." (I've
always thought that this must be among the non-castrated, but this just
shows my own ridiculous biases.)
March 26 -- day of repose.
March 27 -- festival closes with a procession of the goddess image to the
Almo River where wagon and image were bathed.
===
Beware the ides of March, indeed!
Intriguing, but Green left Earth on March 14, came back April 15.
Arthur Cotterell's A DICTIONARY OF WORLD MYTHOLOGY has this tidbit:
"Union was achieved through either self-mutilation or a sacred marriage: to
all devotees was open what had once been the prerogative of West Asian
kingship" (under ATTIS).
I find this interesting as a case where there is mention of an option to
self-castration: a "sacred marriage."
=mantis=
--